Suicide blast kills 2 U.S. soldiers, 3 Afghans

A suicide bomber struck U.S. troops patrolling on foot in southern Afghanistan yesterday, killing at least two soldiers and three civilians and wounding at least nine others, officials said.

The blast followed an allegation from President Hamid Karzai that clashes Tuesday between U.S.-led troops and insurgents left 17 civilians dead. The U.S. military says all 32 people killed in the fighting were militants.

It also comes at a time when the United States is rushing 20,000 troops into Afghanistan to combat a Taliban insurgency that has sent violence to record levels.

U.S. officials have warned that the violence will probably intensify in the coming year. More U.S. troops, 151, died in Afghanistan in 2008 than in any other year since the 2001 invasion to oust the Taliban.

The bomber hit the U.S. patrol on a busy street lined with shops in Kandahar province's Maywand district, district chief Naimatullah Khan said. Helicopters took away U.S. casualties, Khan said, without providing numbers.